The gentleman we can see in the bottom right of this picture is smoking a cigarette in a bit of a daze. He is deep in thought as someone has just taken him to one side and told him all about the Red Star of Freedom and now his whole world has been turned upside down. He can’t stop thinking about it and the implications it has for him and everyone he knows. He knows he hasn’t got long to think about it before he has to make a choice. The decision is a fairly stark one. If he had a dice he’d probably let that make the decision for him. He can hear the clock ticking. Time is running out…
If you’ve never heard of the Belgian takedown I’m hardly surprised. It’s a particularly nasty method for a soldier to take out an enemy sentry whereby you sneak up behind him and grab his ankles from under him to take him to the floor then kick him in the family jewels whilst he’s down to induce shock then silently dispatch him by whatever means you like. Anyway, this guy is a Belgian takedown master. It’s his forte. He’s that good at it that they’ve given him medals for it. He has got a pretty intense stare though…
Today’s write up is probably going to be somewhat opaque but sometimes that works best. If you’re not familiar with Electric Blue then it’s probably better it stays that way. If, however, you’re a gentleman of a certain age you will probably know what I’m referring to. This piece is a special commission for a good friend of id-iom’s. And when I say special commission I mean that he doesn’t know it’s on his way to him so hopefully he’ll appreciate it. It’s basically a very roundabout reference to an old shared joke that would shame even the stoutest of hearts and is by no means fit for retelling in such august company. It even comes complete with crystal resin drips that are perhaps reminiscent of something else. Or maybe that’s just me. Anyway, it is what it is…
I’ve recently been sucked into watching Sons of Anarchy (which, if you’re unaware, is a series about gun-running biker gangs in California) and got to thinking about their club logo which consists of a reaper character wielding a gun with a scythe mounted on it who is clutching a bomb emblazoned with the anarchy logo. It’s a bit overkill but it’s still a strong logo.
I’ve decided that if I had a biker gang we’d be in the illegal art game – counterfeits, art thefts, black market sales, demanding protection money from galleries and street artists and that kind of thing. Obviously we’d need a crest for paint splattered biker jackets and this bad lad would be it. I’m still working on the name of my biker gang. I quite like Wu Tag clan but feel that Rza and Gza would probably have something to say about that…
If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise. And that surprise comes in the form of a frisky human/bear hybrid that tries sneaking up on you whilst you’re out for a walk. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO? Well, I can tell you what I did. I yelled ‘Chase me!’ before you running off giggling. I was obviously feeling a little fruity because in all honesty it was a pretty strange thing to do. Anyway the chimera quickly got the idea of the game and we spent the next 10 minutes frolicking around the wood. It wasn’t until I tripped over my shoelace and banged my head that the game ended and I woke up. In my own bed at home. Sadly alone. What the moral of this tale is I don’t know. Perhaps you can enlighten me…
This piece was made as a thank you to our tame web monkey who helped us out with our website. We had to get some help due to the fact that one half of id-iom nearly had an embolism just trying to log in to the site and I nearly lost all my hair scratching my head in confusion. With a little help though we eventually managed to log in but let me tell you that was only the start. SEO tracking, site population, themes, data entry, analytics, search optimisation, these are only a few of the things I forgot as soon as I was told.
With all that in mind we decided it was just too much for our measly little brains and called in the experts. Just like the A-team we first had to locate our globe travelling asset. We found him in Norway but as luck would have it was passing through London a few days later, so we hastily organised a meeting. We decided it best to meet on neutral ground so therefore the pub was decided on for our meeting, as nothing can every go wrong at a pub before lunchtime on a Thursday.
In fact things did go a little pear shaped but that’s a story for another time. Suffice it to say that enough business was conducted that we needed to give him a little something for his time. ‘I am a sexual tiger’ is the result. And what a fine specimen he is too.
Sometimes there’s nothing id-iom likes more than heading to the gym for a tough session – of painting! We’ve done some work for Fusion previously with their first incarnation of Intencity in Southgate. This time round it was in Bedford. Intencity is a concept gym where you wear a heart monitor and try to remain at the goal heart rate bpm whilst you’re working out and they needed some corresponding imagery to give the space a little lift and tie in with the first one.
A load of design revisions later and we had some pared down images approved and ready to go. We only had a day to get it all done but one long shift later and we’d achieved what we’d set out to do. Then it was just the long drive back to London before we could call it a day but at least it was job done.
I’m just going to stand here resolutely ignoring you and staring off page into my own personal shangri-la. You can’t have a look and there’s nowt you can do about it. So there. I’m just going to keep staring as long as you’re looking at me….
After seeing the wall version of this here piece which we painted a while back we were commissioned to produce a canvas version and here’s the result…
Here at id-iom there are a few things we love. Sunny days. Painting. And dispensing wisdom. Today we had the opportunity to combine all three and ‘If you’re in a fair fight…’ is the result. The original inspiration for this design came from the Polish fighter squadrons of WW2 who escaped to Britain to fight alongside the RAF after Poland had been invaded. Somehow that nugget of inspiration morphed into this piece. The muse works in mysterious ways. Anyway, as long as you’re digging the sage advice this dashing pilot is dishing out then all should be well. Just remember kids; failing to plan is planning to fail…
The Muse works in mysterious ways. And I think I have proof. Now stay with me on this one as it’s a bit of a ramble…
So there I was watching some link I’d clicked on that had taken me to youtube and when the clip I was watching finished the next suggested clip started playing. It was a 1939 cartoon from the Merrie Melodies series (a companion series to Looney Tunes) called ‘Thugs with dirty mugs’ and the bank robber in it, Killer Diller, was supposedly played by Edward G Robemsome – who was a caricature of Edward G Robinson. Robinson was a famous actor during Hollywood’s Golden Age and is best remembered for his tough-guy gangster roles. A little research into Robinson later and hey presto! I had an idea for a piece. He also has a great art related quote attributed to him which has given me an idea for another piece:
“I have not collected art. Art collected me. I never found paintings. They found me. I have never even owned a work of art. They owned me.”
I couldn’t decide which of the two colour schemes I was toying with that I liked more so decided to just do them both. As a little nod to the cartoon that got me on the road to creation I’ve included the ‘Thugs in dirty mugs’ text as it appears on the cartoon credits. Both of these bad lads are A2 and will look lovely once framed. Get in touch if you’re interested…
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